United are the Premier League's best counter-attackers

The Reds are currently level on 33 points with Liverpool, but will leapfrog the Merseysiders with a win or a draw at Turf Moor.

There is, however, a top-flight ranking we already lead – one which encapsulates a key quality Ole Gunnar Solskjaer demands from his team.

United have scored more goals on the counter-attack than any other Premier League side so far in 2020/21, with five of our 33 strikes coming on the break.

“It’s in our genes those counter-attacking goals, and I love seeing them, I have to say,” Ole told us in a recent interview to mark two years in charge at Old Trafford, and there’s certainly been plenty for the Norwegian to enjoy this term, as you can see in the video below.

Marcus Rashford got the first breakaway effort of the season, running on to Bruno Fernandes’s poked through ball to put us 2-1 up in a game at Brighton we’d eventually win 3-2.

Scorer then turned provider three weeks later, as Rashford slyly sidefooted for Bruno to complete a sweeping team move at Newcastle.

Fernandes was back on assist duty as he laid on Edinson Cavani for the injury-time clincher in a 3-1 win at Everton, while Sheffield United were left trailing in the wake of Rashford at Bramall Lane in December, with our no.10 applying the final touch to a move which had started with a misplaced Blades' throw-in, close to our own penalty area.

Those first four efforts all came on the road, as the Reds set a new club record of 10 top-flight away wins in succession, but our most recent counter-attacking goal was netted at Old Trafford.

United were already two goals to the good against Leeds when, with the Whites piling men forward, Fernandes latched on to a loose ball and powered it into the back of the net.

High-flying Aston Villa are next in the list, with four counter-attacking goals, while Liverpool – who led the rankings last term with 11 efforts – and Tottenham come next, on three.

The Premier League has kept counter-attacking data since the beginning of the 2006/07 season, when the Reds finished joint-top for goals on the break, with nine.

No side scored more on the counter than the Reds during the title-winning 2008/09 and 2010/11 campaigns, either – so let’s hope what happened at the end of those seasons are an omen for the current team!